The present disclosure relates to computing systems, and more specifically, to data redundancy in computing systems.
Computer systems may include files and/or other content that requires protection from various events. Some of these events may include power loss, system failure, and/or complete loss (for example, due to natural disaster). Various systems have been developed to provide replication services for such file content. Such systems may be referred to as Replication and High Availability (RHA) systems.
Replication involves sharing information between redundant resources, such as software or hardware components, so as to ensure consistency and to improve reliability, fault-tolerance, and/or accessibility. Replication can be extended across a computer network, so that resources can be local or physically remote. As such, replicas of file systems may be backed up to other locations and retrieved at a later time to accurately restore a file system. However, latency can place limitations as to the physical distance between sites and/or the type of replication that can be employed.
Some replication systems can be disruptive to services and/or applications provided by computer systems. For example, upgrading a software system may trigger a synchronization operation where the data to be protected is transferred from one or more master servers to one or more replica servers, which may require a significant amount of downtime. Also, journal files on the replica server(s) that have not been previously applied may be lost and/or may also require re-synchronization, which may involve even more downtime.